Who: Raven and Tim Drake What: Reacting to becoming a portal, waking up blue-grey and not going back to normal, hiding When: Throughout 12 December 2014 Where: Her room, to under a random bridge in Newport Beach Warnings: Low. Status: Thread | Incomplete
The past week had been terrifying. While Dream!her had nightmares about her friends dying because of her, there were times when the dreams Raven had were similar, but instead of Robin or Cyborg or Starfire or Beast Boy, it was Tim or Conner or Regina or anyone else she knew from the real world. It terrified her because she didn't know if it meant that it was going to come to pass in Orange County, or if the stress and worry had started to affect her in her sleep as well. It was hard to know, but whatever it was, Raven wanted it to stop. The night had been like any other, nothing that would make her want to stay awake to avoid the inevitable. Because there was always going to be that hopeful part of her that wanted to believe that the rules were different here and she wasn't going to be forced into the same destiny.
Apparently her hope was misplaced.
This wasn't the way it was meant to be. Not that anyone could properly prepare for the last day of the world. All she had wanted was for her friends to have the perfect day. Instead, the eclipse had happened and everything spiraled as the end drew near. She didn't want this, she had never wanted this. But to save her friends, to give them a chance, she went willingly. They weren't supposed to follow her but they did. Of course they did. Because they were Titans and they were family.
"I just wanted your last day to be perfect. Instead, you spent it worrying about me."
"That's what friends do."
"Then as my friend, let me go."
Shielding them from being able to stop her, Raven ascended the staircase. She knew they were fighting, trying to get in, but they couldn't. This was what she was supposed to do. She didn't want to but in the end, it was all she was. She had tried to at least make up for what she was to do. The fighting crime, doing good. Anything to counter the evil she had to unleash. The power she infused in her friends because if anyone could stop Trigon, it was them. But they'd been threatened and she knew if she hadn't gone willingly, they would have died before it even started.
"The gem is born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire the end of all things mortal."
The prophecy was fulfilled, the spell and symbols within her skin spinning and holding her up. Magic and evil swirled and held her up, suffocating her. A light, the portal. It was opening and tearing her apart. Engulfing her body, her soul, everything. She felt as though she were being pulled to shreds and while it hurt, she didn't scream. Because this was her destiny, a destiny she never wanted but remained all the same.
And then... she was falling but her mind was a mess, focus..what did it matter. Where was she. Everything was bright and dark. It was done.
With that, Raven was awake, gasping for breath. Everything hurt. Her room looked... torn apart almost. The light wouldn't turn on, the clock flashing a time. What...? Even so, as her eyes adjusted, it was clear something was wrong. Quickly she looked to the window and felt her heart stop. No. No no no no. Beyond the fact that the lights nearby were out as well, the birds were there with their double set of eyes glowing red. Watching. This wasn't happening. The last time she had seen them here, it had been a hallucination. That's all it was.... Grabbing candles, the teen lit them and felt her heart race more. Her skin was the blue-grey colour again. If she just calmed down, her skin would be normal again.
It had to be.
It wasn't.
The sun was coming up and the electricity wasn't coming back and her skin wasn't returning to normal. She needed to get out. She couldn't go to school, she couldn't be seen like this.... She'd become the portal and the demon birds were here and she didn't look human anymore. So she ran before anyone in the house would wake up. She ran and kept running until she came to an abandoned bridge and sat under it. She didn't pay attention to the cold, or that she was in pajamas and barefooted. She just wanted to vanish. She wanted to take back whatever she had done. She just wanted to be normal.